American Horror Story Cult Finale Blog

American Horror Story fans were either really happy or really disappointed with the season finale of AHS Cult. I personally enjoyed the finale and thought each character's story was wrapped up well. So let's explore the finale, dissect the plots and analyze their meanings.

This finale was reminiscent of AHS Asylum's finale in the sense that time jumps forward and backward to explain the denouement of Kai (Evan Peters) while also bringing justice to each of the other characters. We start with Kai being in prison at the beginning of the episode. Right away we know his political plans were foiled, but how and why? We see Kai still has a following in prison including other inmates, as well as guards.

Then we are sent into the past where Kai is still free and pursuing his lofty goals. Ally (Sarah Paulson) is still playing up to Kai while looking for an opening and planning his downfall. Winter's (Billie Lourd) character is sorely missed in the finale because Kai had her murdered in the prior episode for betraying him. At this point, Kai has no siblings left because he has killed them.

Kai begins to plan his most abhorrent strategy yet during the finale. He continues to "see" Charles Manson (also played by Evan Peters) who helps instruct Kai with his plans. Inspired by Manson, Kai plans a "night of a thousand Tates" where pregnant women and their unborn babies will be targeted and killed by his followers. The plan was named after Sharon Tate, who was a pregnant actress murdered by Manson's cult. Kai wants as many victims as possible, although he later lowers the target to a hundred victims. Ally and Beverly (Adina Porter) are disgusted by Kai's plan which leads to Beverly wanting to give up her life. She even asks Ally to kill her; however, Ally puts her back into shape while alluding that Kai's day of reckoning is coming.

Ally leaves the cult compound claiming to be going for snacks and then we see her enter an undercover surveillance van where law officials have been monitoring Kai and his cult. We learn that Ally has been working with the law all along to bring Kai down. Just then they burst into the compound where Kai is apprehended and the majority of his goons taken out. Thanks to Ally and her information Beverly is set free finally.

As if all this isn't enough for the finale, we see the ultimate reversal of roles between Kai and Ally when she decides to run for a high political office by accounting her experiences as a way to become a household name. When Kai finds a way to call Ally from prison, she breaks him by finally revealing that her son Oz is not his son and he decides she must die. By demanding aid from a female prison guard he's having sex with, Kai successfully escapes from prison by faking his death.

Beverly decides to use her experience in the media to help Ally get elected by being her campaign advisor. When it becomes apparent the voters see Ally as a victim, Beverly devises a plan in which Ally can face Kai publicly once and for all. At the next public campaign event, we discover Kai waiting in the audience to assassinate Ally. When his moment comes and he is about to pull the trigger it's revealed the gun is empty. In a flashback, it's revealed that Ally planned the whole encounter and even had the prison guard who helped Kai escape remove the bullets from his gun. Just then we see Beverly emerge with a gun and she finally brings Kai down by shooting him. Beverly finally gets the last word. The season ends with Ally being elected and then it's revealed she is the new grand leader of the all-female cult. What a finale! I thoroughly enjoyed this season and although the typical AHS supernatural elements were missing the show still did a fantastic job exploring American politics, as well as the dark insidious side of cult fanaticism.